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A vacant former showroom in a run-down Birmingham city centre street is set to be converted into nine luxury apartments aimed at the £1 million price bracket.

The building at 76 Holloway Head used to house a catering firm until late last year but developers behind the project are now eyeing a wholesale conversion targeted firmly at the city's top earners.

New plans have been lodged to convert and extend the building by adding three extra storeys so it can house four one-bedroom and four two-bedroom apartments alongside a three-bedroom penthouse on the fifth floor (see gallery above for CGIs).

There would also be 11 parking spaces and commercial units on the lower ground and ground floor for restaurants or cafés.

The application site is directly opposite Concord House, the former Debenhams warehouse which has recently been converted into 19 high-end flats including the city's most expensive which sold for £1.8 million a few weeks ago.

76 Holloway Head most recently housed Red Rob Catering Supplies but this was placed into liquidation in October 2014.

Huseyin Cicek, an architect with London-based Arch Planning and Licensing which lodged the application on behalf of the building's owners, told the Post : "We know about Concord House and we're definitely aiming at the £1 million part of the market. All the apartments will be really large, starting at about 1,500 sq ft.

"Each will have walk-in wardrobes and en suite bathrooms.

"We've been attracted by the city centre as it's developing well and the buildings in this area are being redeveloped and refurbished.

"The applicant used to run their own business there and they've always wanted to do something with the building but didn't have the finance in place but now they have they're able to move forward."

76 Holloway Head (left) and its upmarket neighbour Concord House (right) as they look today

The neighbouring property at 66 Holloway Head, which is home to Dutton Glass and Mirrors, is not part of this application.

Mr Cicek said the redevelopment work was likely to start during 2016 and was expected to take two years to complete.

The area around Holloway Head, which contains several old and neglected buildings, is going under somewhat of a renaissance.

A few years ago a brand new Ramada Encore hotel was built, now called Pentahotel, and during the summer a long-running plan to redevelop 49-51 Holloway Head was put back on the table again.

Panther Securities last week won planning permission to build 487 apartments in two towers reaching up to 14 storeys on the site of the current HQ of Girlguiding Birmingham.

Holloway Head's proximity to New Street station and Grand Central, Bullring, The Mailbox and The Cube, coupled with the high volume of development potential, means it is likely to continue catching the eye of developers.